Understated Zaragoza

Claire O’Reilly on why you should explore the Aragonese capital before everyone else catches on to its charms.

A MACHINE-GUN with a lisp. That’s what comes to mind whenever I hear a local say ‘Zaragoza’. Their rapid-fire delivery of Tha-ra-go-tha is one of my favourite sounds in Spanish and the place itself, one of my favourite cities to visit.

Let’s get the bad news out of the way first: Zaragoza is oppressively hot during the height of summer, the nearest beach is a hardly handy 200km away, barely anyone speaks English and there are no direct flights from Ireland. If that’s enough to put you off ever setting foot in the place, let me tell you why, on the contrary, you’ll be very glad you did.